WTO Chief, Malcolm Gladwell and Visionaries Close World Government Summit 2018 With Future Forecasts

13.2.2018 17:31 | Business Wire

Del

The sixth edition of the World
Government Summit (WGS 2018) ended in Dubai with invigorating talks
highlighting the seismic and inevitable changes innovation will bring,
and a plea for institutions to realign with the new world order.

HE Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), speaking at the sixth edition of the World Government Summit (WGS 2018) in Dubai, at a session titled: 'The Outlook for Global Trade in a Hyperconnected World', moderated by CNN's Emerging Markets Editor John Defterios (Photo: AETOSWire)

“Eight out of 10 jobs that are lost in advanced economies are lost to
new technology - not to trade or to immigrants,” said World Trade
Organization Director-General Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo. “E-commerce
is a reality. It is important for the 164 member countries to join the
discussion about it, although not all of them are prepared to.”

He continued: “A lot of the e-commerce that we see today is
business-to-business. Business-to-consumer changes the world completely.
The laws and regulations of consumer protection have to be thought
about, cross-border transactions, digital signatures, the legality of
contracts across the border, which legislation applies, return of
merchandise – it’s a world out there.”

Champions of cryptocurrencies dismissed suggestions of a ‘bitcoin
bubble’, emphasizing that digital assets are here to stay.
“Cryptocurrency is the people’s currency of monetary independence, it is
much more than a financial currency. Bitcoin is not a bubble, it is the
pin that is popping the bubble of the legacy financial systems since it
has been created,” said Blockchain Technologies Corporation’s founder
and CEO Nick Spanos.

Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell remarked that societies are
evolving because of technology, and in this context, governments need to
prepare for future uncertainties. He underscored the importance of
humans’ judgment in shaping a more humane future.

Gladwell also highlighted the challenges facing governments and
institutions in an era of surplus information. “The expectations we have
from governments have remained in place for 200 years. The challenges
facing governments are changing in the modern world. Shifts in
expectations need governments to develop progressive policies that can
accommodate the global transition towards a knowledge-based economy,” he
said.